College basketball: Leal brothers square off for first time on hardwood

Wednesday

Dec 18, 2013 at 2:00 AMDec 18, 2013 at 5:31 AM

Zach and Sam Leal grew up playing basketball. The two brothers, going way back to when they were in elementary school, could often be found playing countless games of 1-on-1 in the family driveway.

Jay Pinsonnault

Zach and Sam Leal grew up playing basketball. The two brothers, going way back to when they were in elementary school, could often be found playing countless games of 1-on-1 in the family driveway.

During these games, certain rules would be made up to give the younger, smaller Zach a chance to be competitive with his older brother.

It took Zach until his junior year at York High School to finally beat Sam, then a sophomore in college, in a game of 1-on-1. Now, when they play both say it is probably a coin flip on who the winner will be.

The Leals always wanted to be on the same team, but Sam, a 2010 York graduate was a senior and on varsity at York High School, while Zach, a 2013 grad, was a freshman and on the junior varsity team.

They never were able to be teammates, but last week the two brothers squared off against each other in a college basketball game when Zach and his University of Southern Maine men's basketball team made the near two-hour trip to Farmington to take on Sam and the University of Maine-Farmington Beavers.

"I thought it was pretty cool, the fans got on us a little bit which was kind of fun," Zach said.

Farmington coughed up a seven-point lead with a minute left in regulation and eventually lost in double overtime, 85-75.

"Yep, Zach has bragging rights for awhile, they got us," Sam said. "It was exciting and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We had never played against each other in a structured game and it was really cool to have that. He got me and I am a proud brother."

Zach did not score and had three rebounds in five minutes of time; it was his only game with less than 10 minutes of playing time this season. For the season, he is averaging 3.2 points a game and 2.5 rebounds.

Sam, Farmington's first man off the bench, played 31 minutes, grabbed seven rebounds and had three assists and two steals. For the season, Sam is averaging just over 18 minutes a game with 2.9 assists and 2.4 rebounds.

"Sam played fantastic," Zach said. "I think it was one of his best games he has played this season. He ran their offense."

One time when Zach was summoned into the game he was asked to guard Sam.

"I wanted to take it away from him at least once," he laughed. "I had a lot of time covering him, and I think that made me play a little harder. I didn't expect to cover him, but the guys were telling me to 'go get your brother, you know what he's going to do.'"

"I was playing the point and he was trying to get a steal off me," Sam added. "He wasn't getting that."

The two teams will not play again as Southern Maine plays in the Little East, while University of Maine-Farmington plays in the North Atlantic Conference and meet just once a season.

"I wish we played again," Sam said. "It was a wild game. After the game we complimented each other and talked a little bit. I am still the older brother and losing to your younger brother is never fun, but I am happy for him. It was a pretty cool night."

Zach said about 10 family members made the trip, including his father, Dave, who also played for the University of Southern Maine and still is in tie for second place in program history for most field goals made (16) in a game, set back in December 1982 against Bates College.

"It was exciting but more of a proud experience because of all the hard work that they did finally paid off," Dave Leal said. "I knew that both of them had a chance to play Division 3 basketball growing up. Sam had a high basketball IQ and was like having the coach on the court. Zach was so athletic and competitive but also had great court vision. They battled in the driveway often but both care about making each other a better player. They are both great fans of each other which is really special."

When Zach first committed to Southern Maine, the first thing he and Sam did was check the basketball schedule for this season.

"Yeah, we had this game circled for a long time," Sam laughed.

"We were talking about this game all fall," Zach said. "My parents didn't who to root for. I think my dad went with USM because he played here and I think my mom had to root for Sam because he's a senior."

Sam has expressed in interest in getting into coaching once he graduates next spring and said he has a good relationship with USM head coach Karl Henrikson, which may lead to a possible job next season with the Huskies.

"That would be fantastic," Zach said. "Having him around would be great."

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